“Rainbow?”
“You are early, Lightning! Didn't we schedule our training for later today?”
The pegasus landed on Rainbow Wing's balcony.
“Yes, but something came up.”
“What?”
“Your death.”
Rainbow Wing did not have time to react. Her body moved by itself, barely avoiding the javelin thrown by Lightning.
“Why?!”
Lightning did not answer. Her body convulsed. Three thick dark gray tentacles suddenly erupted from within Lightning's body, interpenetrating each other in ways not physically possible in three dimensions.
The tentacles lurched towards Rainbow Wing, who evaded them effortlessly.
“My body feels lighter!”
Rainbow Wing tried to entangle the tentacles by flying between them. It did not work. The tentacles simply passed through each other, as if they were no obstacle.
“My body did not get lighter, my wings got stronger!”
Rainbow Wing escaped through the balcony towards the wide atrium, followed closely by the tentacles. The tentacles smashed through the wall, sending fragments of crystal towards the distant ground.
The forest that should be there was covered by a mass of tentacles.
“BUTTER!”
-*-*-*-
“Do not be scared, my little friends. I will protect you.”
The animals of the forest surrounded Butter. In the distance, loud crashes announced the fall of several trees.
“I hope everyone else is safe.”
All the animals stopped and stared fixedly at the butterfly-winged pegasus. None moved. There was no sound, not even the wind.
“A-Are you all right?”
All the animals convulsed at the same time. Many thick dark gray tentacles erupted from all the animals, converging on the helpless pegasus.
She cried in fear, while she was carried far above the tops of the trees.
She opened her eyes.
“R-Rainbow?”
“At least you are safe! If you hadn't jumped at the last second, I would not have been able to catch you!”
“I... jumped?”
“You were fast! I did not know your wings had such force! It happened to me too! My wings got stronger, and I escaped in the nick of time!”
“What should we do now?”
“I have no idea!”
“Let's find the Administrator. She will know what to do.”
-*-*-*-
“Alright, kids, which story do you want to hear today?”
Happy Party was seated in a bench. A dozen of foals sat in a semicircle in front of her.
“I want to hear the one where you die,” said one of the foals.
“I do not have any story like that.”
“The one where you die!” said another foal.
“The one where you die!” chanted all the foals in unison. “The one where you die!”
The foals stopped and stared at the unicorn. A single thick dark gray tentacle emerged from each foal, converging on the bench.
Happy Party fell backwards, the upturned bench covering her completely.
The bench was crushed by all the tentacles.
From a distance, Happy Party looked at the mass of tentacles, her legs shaking.
“I am lucky that my offscreen teleportation saved me,” said Happy Party to no one in particular. “I have to tell the Administrator!”
-*-*-*-
“Excuse me!”
“You were scheduled for next week. Why are you here today?”
The green unicorn entered Sweet Light's studio.
“Of course I could wait until next week! But you are such a fabulous pony, who never turns anypony down! I am sure you will help me!” The unicorn sat herself behind a low desk.
Sweet Light's deep black eyes gazed at the intruder.
“I will get you a drink.”
Sweet Light went towards one of the side rooms.
The unicorn smiled and fired a beam of energy at the pegasus' back.
Sweet Light jumped sideways and evaded the beam. At the same time, the desk lifted by itself, blocking the unicorn's sight, and several scissors and needles flew from the shelves towards the unicorn.
The desk fell to the ground with a thud, revealing the wounded unicorn.
“You are not a unicorn... How could... you use... magic...”
“Nanomachines. In the desk and tools. But that knowledge is of no use for you now.”
The unicorn closed her eyes. Without warning, a thick dark gray tentacle erupted from the unicorn's body, catching Sweet Light by surprise.
Sweet Light's body moved by itself, avoiding the tentacle.
She flew towards the door. Pursued closely by the tentacle, she went through the large corridor towards a wall, which opened itself at the last moment.
Now outside the building, she assessed the situation.
All over the city, there were tentacles like the one she had escaped from. None of the buildings visible from her position were free of the tentacles.
Obeying an unseen order, she flew towards one of the buildings.
-*-*-*-
The trees were weeping.
While Apple Seed stared in amazement, a thick black fluid oozed from the fruits of her beloved apple trees, covering the ground.
The ceiling darkened and reddened. There was a deafening scream, unlike the scream of any creature who had ever lived in Equestria.
Apple Seed ran away.
The black fluid in the ground oozed upwards into the air. Tentacles formed from it, almost encircling the fast-running pony.
She escaped the building, meeting her friends outside it.
-*-*-*-
“I am glad that you five are safe,” said the Administrator. “I will answer your questions later. First, we must deal with these.”
Around them, the air cracked.
Rainbow Wing fell to the ground. “My body is hurting!”
Happy Party contorted in pain.
“What is going on?” complained Apple Seed with a pained expression.
Butter spread herself on the ground, crying.
“Just endure it!” exclaimed Sweet Light, clenching her teeth.
A brilliant light emanated from the five ponies, hitting the Administrator, who then emanated an even brighter light. Many rays of light shot from her body, hitting and dissolving the tentacles all over the city.
The light subsided. The five ponies relaxed, no longer in pain.
“Not bad,” said the Administrator. “Not as strong as the original Elements, but it will do for now.”
“What did you do to us?” asked Apple Seed.
“That was just a simulacrum of the Elements of Harmony. You five have a similarity to the last ponies to be chosen as their bearers. I programmed the nanomachines in your bodies to amplify that similarity, so that I could use it to replicate their effects.
“I also enabled some extra hidden funcionality on the nanomachines to enhance your natural physical attributes. And I used them to cause a reflex movement in the precise moment you would have died.”
“So that is how I escaped!”
“Yes, Rainbow. I exploited my knowledge of the events to prepare the correct movement at the precise instant.”
“If you would excuse my curiosity, Administrator, but... How did you know precisely what would happen?” asked Sweet Light.
The Administrator's smile was replaced by a frown. She levitated a notebook from her saddlebag.
“A time traveler brought me this. It was sent from my future self, after you five died.”
“We died?!” jumped Happy Party.
“Unfortunately, yes. And these abominations overran the city. Few ponies survived.”
“What can we do to prevent it?” asked Butter.
“We stopped them, for now. But they will come back.
“My future self also sent me something special. Something which can change the past.”
A large black flying machine ominously arrived above the six ponies, casting a shadow.
“With what she sent, we can fix the past. We can save the fallen hero. We can stop these monsters, once and for all.
“The day Rainbow Dash died, was also the day when these monsters were the most vulnerable. We will go back to that day, and ensure that the Elements will not fail.
“To that end, I installed the crystals that I received from my future self in my personal flying machine, the Black Wing!”